News Release

WAR ROOM OPERATION TO TRACK CHANGES IN ECONOMY; DELIVER TALKING POINTS AND SOLUTIONS

Toby Chaudhuri — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0400

WASHINGTON – The Campaign for America’s Future launched an economic war room today to help frame the ongoing debate as the economy changes at an increasing pace and continues to get worse for millions of Americans. The operation will deliver daily poll-tested talking points to candidates, elected officials, talk show hosts, columnists, bloggers, labor leaders, activists and others, tying the latest research by think tanks like the EPI Policy Center to the latest opinion research by top strategists.

Campaign for America’s Future co-director Robert Borosage said the alerts will include a set of persuasive facts and arguments on key issues, linking to a comprehensive analysis of solutions to economic problems on people’s minds.

“The change in the economy has been abrupt and serious,” said Borosage. “Economic issues are obviously on everyone’s mind, so it’s important to understand what is happening and to have messages that can move people. Our effort provides real policy alternatives to the political messaging already out there.”

Democratic pollster Celinda Lake and Drew Westen, an Emory University professor who has studied the way Americans think about issues and make decisions, are advising Borosage on messages they have tested and measured for impact. Lake and Westen joined Borosage on a conference call with reporters today to launch the messaging project.

Lake said on today’s call that Americans are increasingly convinced the country is on the edge of a recession and that Washington is not responding adequately.

“Economic problems are creating deep discontent across America,” said Lake. “The American Dream is slipping away and people want leaders to focus on kitchen-table issues like jobs, education, health care, housing and retirement. They are to ready to support our ideas if we present our values and policy solutions in a compelling way.”

Westen said Americans, whether Democratic or Republican, are persuaded more by emotions and values than by a laundry list of issues so policy arguments must be linked to broader themes to connect with them.

“Progressives typically bombard people with a laundry list of issues and policy positions, while conservatives offer them emotionally compelling appeals, whether to their values or prejudices,” said Westen. “The war room is designed to change that.”

The need for the economic war room became clear when the Campaign for America’s Future met with dozens of elected officials and progressive leaders to discuss economic messaging. The group found that opinion leaders were better versed at political messages but less so on solutions and effective ways of communicating them. To fill that gap, more than 3,000 federal- and state-elected officials and 3,000 activists are already receiving alerts from the economic war room.

# # #

**NOTE: Media representatives interested in more details about the economic war room should visit www.ourfuture.org/makingsense. Anyone interested in receiving real-time alerts, may do so by signing up on the website.**

NEW VIDEO CALLS HEALTH INSURANCE INDUSTRY’S BLUFF

Toby Chaudhuri — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0400

WASHINGTON – The health care industry is blatantly failing to deliver on its promise to listen to people’s ideas about how to create high-quality care for every American, according to a new Internet video produced by the Campaign for America’s Future for a coalition of hundreds of groups working to fix our nation’s broken health care system.

As part of the insurance industry’s new “listening tour,” the industry-funded Coalition for An American Health Care Solution launched a hotline for individuals to share ideas about how to improve and expand the health care system. Unfortunately, calls to the hotline go straight to an answering machine. In response, the Internet video asks, “What else would you expect from the health care industry?”

The video was produced for the Health Care for America Now coalition, which was launched last month. Between now and Election Day, the groups plans to spend $25 million in paid media and have 100 organizers in 45 states.

# # #

**NOTE: To view the Internet video, please visit http://tinyurl.com/6o6fep.**

“CALLING THEIR BLUFF”
Internet Video - 50 sec.

ONSCREEN: The health insurance companies say they want to hear from you… They’ve even launched a hotline for you to share your input… Call now! 1-800-289-1136. They say they want to listen to your thoughts on health care. [Dial tone, phone dials number.] Oh Really?

MESSAGE MACHINE: Thank you for calling the Coalition for an American Health Care Solution. No one is available to take your call right now, so please leave your name phone number and a short message.

CALLER: Hey, this is Bob from Detroit. This is the fifth time I’ve called you today. I’ve heard you’ve started some listening tour. But if you really want to listen, pick up the phone.

ONSCREEN: What else would you expect from the health care industry? Fight Back. HealthCareForAmericaNow.org Produced by Campaign for America’s Future.

# # #

THE RIGHT-WING BLOCK-AND-BLAME STRATEGY IS THE REAL STORY OF THE 110TH CONGRESS, REPORT SAYS

Toby Chaudhuri — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 00:00:00 -0400

WASHINGTON – Republicans in Congress, working in concert with the White House, organized a deliberate political strategy to sabotage the Democratic majority in Congress as it responded to a mandate to solve major problems facing the nation, according to a new report released today by the Campaign for America’s Future. With the American public registering overwhelming disapproval of the job Congress is doing, the facts in today’s report show that Republicans are to blame.

Campaign for America’s Future co-director Robert Borosage said that the reputation of the Congress would be very different had the Republican minority and President Bush not orchestrated a systematic campaign of obstruction to bottle up any progress.

“Now this is sort of like knee-capping the postman and then complaining that the mail is late,” said Borosage. “As Republicans posture about the do-nothing Congress, it's worth remembering that much would have gotten done had they not been in the way.”

The report shows that the Republican strategy forced a record number of cloture votes — 94 so far — that require a super-majority of sixty votes to end filibusters. This was reinforced by more than 119 veto threats by President Bush, essentially repealing majority rule. Never before has an ideological minority obstructed so many important measures from becoming law.

If Republicans had not adopted this strategy, majorities in both the House and the Senate favored passage of the following:

--WAR IN IRAQ: Setting a date certain to bring the occupation of Iraq to an end, freeing up the $12 billion a month in direct costs (almost a half-billion dollars a day) for vital needs here at home, and insuring that soldiers are guaranteed adequate rest and recovery between deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan;

--ENERGY: Investing billions in renewable energy sources and energy efficiency, creating green-collar jobs, and paying for it by repealing subsidies for oil companies already pocketing the greatest profits in recorded history;

--HEALTH CARE: Providing health care for millions of children of working and poor families, giving them with a chance for a healthy start to life, and saving seniors tens of billions of dollars in prescription drug prices by empowering Medicare to negotiate bulk purchase discounts.

# # #

**NOTE: An electronic copy of the report is available at www.ourfuture.org/obstruction.**

McCAIN WOULD DRIVE UP HEALTH CARE COSTS FOR FAMILIES, WHILE BENEFITING HEALTH INSURANCE COMPANIES

Toby Chaudhuri — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 13:00:00 -0400

WASHINGTON – Sen. John McCain’s health care plan would dismantle the employer-provided system that covers more than 60 percent of non-elderly Americans and drive up health care costs, according to experts responding to the announcement of his proposal today. An average family could see their health care costs as much as double under the McCain health care plan, according to an analysis by the Campaign for America’s Future.

Campaign for America’s Future co-director Roger Hickey, one of the leaders of a new coalition of groups working to fix the broken health care system, said that Sen. McCain’s plan would tax the health care premiums employers pay for their workers, encouraging most companies to stop providing any coverage. Hickey noted that instead of lowering costs, this would force millions of Americans to buy more expensive coverage with inadequate tax credits, greatly increasing the number of families who can’t afford quality care.

“John McCain’s plan must’ve been written by the insurance companies. It leaves them in more control of America’s health care system than ever before,” said Hickey. “John McCain wants us all to buy insurance not as part of a group – like an employee group or a co-op – that can negotiate for better coverage at lower premiums, but as individuals, at the mercy of the private insurance companies. It would leave millions of people with worse coverage, more chronic health problems and higher levels of health cost-driven bankruptcies.”

Most people, even those with good insurance, don’t get the health care they need, contributing to rising health costs. Sen. McCain, however, believes that the problem with health care is that Americans have too much insurance and that if consumers pay for it out of their own pockets, they will in turn force hospitals and insurance companies to become more efficient.

Dr. Jacob Hacker, a professor at Yale University and the author of the “Health Care for America” plan, which Sens. Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton and John Edwards used as the basis for their health care proposals, disagrees with McCain’s fundamental premise. Hacker said the real problem is rising health care costs and declining coverage.

“McCain’s proposal doesn’t address either of these problems in a serious way,” said Hacker. “The real problem for most Americans isn’t just less coverage. It’s that they risk losing coverage or they can’t get coverage when they’re unhealthy, particularly in the individual market. McCain’s proposal does nothing to provide that kind of broader health security.”

AFL-CIO political director Karen Ackerman joined Hickey and Hacker on a conference call with reporters today and announced details of a new campaign to explain the devastating effects of Sen. McCain’s health care plan to millions of voters nationwide. The AFL-CIO campaign will include a massive national canvass to 200,000 union households on Saturday, May 17.

“While those with pre-existing conditions simply will have an even harder time finding health care than they do now, insurance companies -- and John McCain’s friends who lobby for them -- stand to make a killing,” said Ackerman. “Working families need a fresh vision and new direction to turn around our country. So far, Sen. McCain has provided neither. We’re working hard to make sure Sen. McCain hears the voices of working families.”

In early March, the AFL-CIO launched a major effort to educate voters about Sen. McCain’s economic record and plans, pressuring him at every campaign event he holds, including this week’s health care events in Florida, Pennsylvania, Iowa, Ohio and Colorado. In the coming weeks, the AFL-CIO will focus on 13 million union voters in 23 battleground states, educating them on exactly who stands to benefit from Sen. McCain’s health care proposals, communicating with voters at the worksite, the doorstep, on the phone, through the mail and online.

# # #

HEALTH CARE COSTS BACKGROUND

$11,765	Average premium cost of the most popular employer-based plan last year [Kaiser Family Foundation]
$5,000	Tax credit for a family under the McCain plan [johnmccain.com]
$6,765	Average additional yearly cost per family under the McCain plan [Campaign for America’s Future]
$3,226	Average amount per worker employers paid for premiums last year [Kaiser Family Foundation]

State of the Union 2008

Toby Chaudhuri — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 19:22:00 -0500

WASHINGTON -- President Bush is expected to address problems in the nation’s economy while hailing the state of the union as strong tonight, but for Americans worrying about how to make ends meet, the country is headed in the wrong direction, according to numbers compiled today by the Campaign for America’s Future.

ON INCOMES:

-- Median household income in 2000 (inflation-adjusted): $49,158
-- Median household income in 2006: $48,201
-- 8-year increase in median household income in 2001: $6,000
-- 6-year decrease in median household income in 2007: $1,100
[U.S. Census Bureau, 2000 - 2007]

-- Salary of a full-time minimum wage employee without vacation: $12,168
-- Average salary of a CEO of one of America’s top 500 companies: $15.2 million
[Forbes Magazine, May 3, 2007]

-- Number of Americans living in poverty in 2001: 31.6 million
-- Number of Americans living in poverty in 2008: 36.5 million
[U.S. Census Bureau, Aug. 2007]

-- Amount more Americans earned than spent in 2001: +2.3 percent
-- Amount less Americans are earning than spending in 2008: -0.5 percent
[Bureau of Economic Analysis]

-- Total consumer credit debt in 2001: $7.65 trillion
-- Total consumer credit debt in 2008: $12.8 trillion
[Insurance Information Institute]

-- Decrease in median income from 2000-2006 in White American households: $745
-- Decrease in median income from 2000-2006 in African American households: $2,766
-- Decrease in median income from 2000-2006 in Hispanic American households: $1,043
-- Decrease in median income from 2000-2006 in Asian American households: $1,381
[U.S. Census Bureau. Aug. 2007]

-- Median income of African American households in 2006: $31,969
-- Median income of Hispanic American households in 2006: $37,781
-- Median income of White American households in 2006: $50,673
-- Median income of Asian American households in 2006: $63,900
[U.S. Census Bureau. Aug. 2007]

-- African Americans living in poverty in 2006: 24.3 percent
-- Hispanic Americans living in poverty in 2006: 20.6 percent
-- Asian Americans living in poverty in 2006: 10.1 percent
-- White Americans living in poverty in 2006: 8.2 percent
[U.S. Census Bureau. Aug. 2007]

ON HOUSING:

-- Percentage increase in home foreclosures in the last year: 68
[RealtyTrac. Dec. 19, 2007]

ON JOBS:

-- Total number of American manufacturing jobs in 2000: 17,263,000
-- Total number of American manufacturing jobs in 2006: 14,197,000
-- Number of American manufacturing jobs lost between 2000 and 2006: 3,066,000
[Bureau of Labor Statistics]

-- Yearly average number of new private sector jobs created from 1992-2000: 1.76 million
-- Yearly average number of new private sector jobs created from 2001-2008: 369,000
[Bureau of Labor Statistics]

-- Jobless African American workers in Dec. 2007: 9.0 percent
-- Jobless Hispanic American workers in Dec. 2007: 6.3 percent
-- Jobless White American workers in Dec. 2007: 4.4 percent
-- Jobless Asian American workers in Dec. 2007: 3.7 percent
[U.S. Department of Labor Employment Situation Summary, Jan. 4, 2008]

ON ENERGY:

-- Average price of a gallon of home heating oil in Jan. 2000: $1.40
-- Average price of a gallon of home heating oil in Jan. 2008: $3.39
[U.S. Energy Information Administration]

-- Average price of a gallon of gas in Jan. 2000: $1.59
-- Average price of a gallon of gas in Jan. 2008: $3.14
[U.S. Energy Information Administration]

-- Increase in the average price of home heating oil since Jan. 2000: +142 percent
-- Increase in the average price of gas since Jan. 2000: +98 percent

-- Price of a gallon of home heating oil in the winter of 2001-2002 (inflation adjusted): $1.36
-- Projected price of a gallon of home heating oil in the winter of 2007-2008: $3.32
[Energy Administration, Jan. 2008]

-- Amount of U.S. liquid fuel consumption that was imported in 2001: 52.75 percent
-- Amount of U.S. liquid fuel consumption that is imported in 2008: 60.38 percent
[U.S. Energy Information Administration]

-- Exxon Mobil profits in 2000: $7.9 billion
-- Exxon Mobil profits in 2006: $36.1 billion
-- Exxon Mobil’s profit per second during the second quarter of 2006: $1,318
[CNNMoney.com, July 27, 2006; Fortune500 2006]

ON HEALTHCARE:

-- Americans without health insurance in 2000: 38.4 million
-- Americans without health insurance in 2006: 46.9 million
[U.S. Census Bureau, Aug. 2007]

-- Decrease over 2 years in the number of uninsured Americans in 2001: 4.5 million
-- Increase over 6 years in the number of uninsured Americans in 2008: 8.5 million
[U.S. Census Bureau, Aug. 2007]

-- Number of children without health insurance: 8.7 million
-- Number of times President Bush vetoed additional health insurance for children: 2
[U.S. Census Bureau, Aug. 2007]

-- Americans receiving employment-based health insurance in 2000: 64.2 percent
-- Americans receiving employment-based health insurance in 2006: 59.7 percent
[U.S. Census Bureau, Aug. 2007]

-- Annual cost of family health insurance premiums in 2000 (inflation adjusted): $7,643
-- Annual cost of family health insurance premiums in 2006: $11,480
[Kaiser Family Foundation and Health Research and Educational Trust]

-- Uninsured White Americans in 2006: 10.8 percent
-- Uninsured African Americans in 2006: 20.5 percent
-- Uninsured Asians Americans in 2006: 15.5 percent
-- Uninsured Hispanic Americans in 2006: 34.1 percent
[U.S. Census Bureau, Aug. 2007]

ON COLLEGE COSTS:

-- Average cost per year at a public four-year college in 2000: $10,153
-- Average cost per year at a public four-year college in 2006: $13,089
[CollegeBoard, 2007]

-- Average yearly change in tuition costs for public four-year college since 2000: +29 percent
-- Average percent change in median household income during same period: -2 percent
-- Average debt shouldered by 2006 college graduates: $21,000
[The Project on Student Debt, Sept. 2007]

ON IRAQ AND THE MILITARY:

-- Number of U.S. troops killed in Iraq before the “Mission Accomplished” speech in 2003: 139
-- Number of US troops killed in Iraq as of Jan. 2008: 3,907
-- Number of Iraqi deaths after U.S. invasion: 1,139,602
[iCasualties.org., Jan. 3, 2008]

-- Number of US troops wounded in Iraq before the “Mission Accomplished” speech: 542
-- Number of U.S. troops wounded in Iraq as of Jan. 2008: 28,661
[iCasualties.org, Jan. 3, 2008]

-- Amount of total world military spending spent by U.S.: 47 percent
[Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation]

-- Total U.S. military expenditures requested for 2008: $644 billion
-- Total military expenditures of the 10 next top spending countries combined: $446.1 billion
[Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation. Includes China, Russia, U.K., France, Japan, Germany, Saudi Arabia, South Korea, India and Brazil, Feb. 5, 2007]

-- U.S. military base budget in 2001: $297.1 billion
-- US pending military base budget 2008, not including Iraq and Afghanistan: $481.4 billion
[White House Office of Management and Budget, Feb. 5, 2007]

-- U.S. budget spent on military not including Iraq in 2007: 50 percent
-- U.S. budget spent on education in 2007: 6.2 percent
[White House Office of Management and Budget, Feb. 6, 2006.]

-- Number of active duty army divisions rated at the highest readiness levels in 2001: All
-- Number of active duty or reserve brigade in the U.S. considered fully combat ready: 0
[Speaker of the House, Nov. 29, 2007]

ON DEBTS AND DEFICITS:

-- The national debt in 2001: $5.7 trillion
-- The national debt in Jan. 2008: $9.2 trillion
[U.S. Dept. of the Treasury]

-- Monthly U.S. trade deficit in Oct. 2000: $33.8 billion
-- Monthly U.S. trade deficit in Oct. 2007: $57.8 billion
-- U.S. trade deficit in 2000: $380 billion
-- U.S. trade deficit in 2007: $759 billion
[U.S. Census Bureau, Dec. 12, 2007]

-- Value of one Euro in Jan. 2000: $1.01
-- Value of one Euro in Jan. 2008: $1.45
-- Loss of value of the Dollar relative to the Euro from Jan. 2000 to Jan. 2008: 45 percent
[Federal Reserve Statistical Release]

-- Value of an ounce of gold in 2000 (inflation adjusted): $319
-- Value of an ounce of gold in 2008: $892
[GoldPrice.org, Jan. 22 2008]

-- U.S. budget surplus in 2000: +$236 billion
-- U.S. budget deficit in 2007: -$354 billion
[House Office of Management and Budget]

ON PRODUCT AND FOOD SAFETY:

-- Increase in consumer product safety spending from 2000 to 2006: 9 percent
-- Increase in number of U.S. imports from 2000 to 2006: 30 percent
[Consumer Federation of America]

-- Increase in the number of federal food inspections from 2000 to 2006: 8 percent
-- Percentage increase in number of agricultural imports from 2000 to 2006: 39 percent
-- Number of cases of food borne disease outbreaks in 2006: 25,659
[U.S. Dept. of Agriculture, Food & Drug Administration, Center for Disease Control]

ON WORLD OPINION:

-- Number of people abroad who viewed America favorably in 2001: 58.3 percent
-- Number of people abroad who viewed America favorably in 2007: 39.2 percent
[Pew Research Center]

-- Number of people in Great Britain who viewed America favorably in 2001: 83 percent
-- Number of people in Great Britain who viewed America favorably in 2007: 56 percent
[Pew Research Center]

-- Number of people in Indonesia who viewed America favorably in 2001: 75 percent
-- Number of people in Indonesia who viewed America favorably in 2007: 30 percent
[Pew Research Center]

-- Number of people in Germany who viewed America favorably in 2001: 78 percent
-- Number of people in Germany who viewed America favorably in 2007: 37 percent
[Pew Research Center]

President’s Veto of Children’s Health Bill Marks First Round In National Fight About Health Care

Robert Dorst2 — Tue, 23 Oct 2007 03:00:00 -0400

WASHINGTON - Campaign for America's Future co-director Robert Borosage said that President Bush's veto of the Children's Health Insurance Program Reauthorization bill today kicks off a major debate about fixing the nation's broken health care system. The bill the president vetoed would reauthorize the State Children's Health Insurance program for 6.6 million children and provide coverage to nearly 4 million more children in working families. The bill passed last week with large majorities in both the House and Senate.

STATEMENT OF ROBERT BOROSAGE

This marks the first round in a national fight about health care. The president chose the special interests of big insurance companies over the needs of millions of children who need coverage. The expansion of the children's health program offers a glimmer of hope to families struggling to make ends meet.

President Bush admits that this program works. He knows that millions of children now go without adequate health care because their families can't afford insurance, but he says he has an "ideological" problem with expanding the program because it might provide coverage to children whose families might otherwise find a way to pay for private insurance.

Legislators in both parties now must decide whether they stand with the president in defense of private insurance company profits or with children in need of health care. You wouldn't think this was a hard choice.

Americans should understand the president's veto begins the new debate on health care reform. Where your legislator stands on expanding children's health care is a good indication of where they will stand on reforms needed to provide affordable health care for all—a question that will be at the center of our political debate in next year's elections.

# # #

**NOTE: Media representatives interested in scheduling an interview to discuss the president's veto and the health care crisis in America should contact Anne Thompson at athompson@ourfuture.org or 202-587-1614.**

Children's Health Bill Vote Makes The Record Clear

Robert Dorst2 — Mon, 08 Oct 2007 23:16:51 -0400

WASHINGTON — Campaign for America's Future co-director Roger Hickey said that 156 House Members declared themselves enemies of children and families in today's vote on children's health care. Hickey said today's override vote marks the first round in a major fight to fix our nation's broken health care system and illustrates the latest obstruction to progress by conservatives.

The bill would reauthorize the State Children's Health Insurance program for 6.6 million children and provide coverage to nearly 4 million more children in working families. The expansion of SCHIP is widely popular, according to a new poll released this week by the Kaiser Family Foundation and the Harvard School of Public Health. Given the basic parameters of the expansion - its cost, the number of new children who would be covered, and how it would be paid for - seven in 10 Americans say they back the plan.

STATEMENT OF ROGER HICKEY

One hundred and fifty-six House Members declared themselves enemies of children and families with this vote. Ignoring the will of the people, a conservative minority in the House sustained the president's veto and denied nearly 5 million children access to health insurance. Upholding the president's veto is only the latest obstruction to progress by Washington conservatives.

An overwhelming majority of Americans support bold reforms in health care and other important areas, but conservatives have repeatedly used filibusters and vetoes to block this progress and then they hypocritically blame others for a lack of congressional action. The record is clear. Congressional conservatives and the president are the culprits who have stood in the way of a new progressive direction for our nation. Our children will pay a steep price for their cruel politics.

Conservatives celebrate the veto at their own peril. Voters are calling on their government to solve the health care crisis for Americans of all ages. Where legislators stood on expanding children's health care is a good indication of where they will stand on critical reforms needed to provide affordable health care for all — an issue that will be at the center of our political debate in next year's elections.

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**NOTE: To obtain a copy of today's poll, please visit http://www.kff.org/kaiserpolls/pomr101707pkg.cfm. Media representatives interested in scheduling an interview to discuss today's override vote and the health care crisis in America should contact Anne Thompson at athompson@ourfuture.org or 202-587-1614.**

New Report: Allowing The Govt. To Negotiate Medicare Drug Prices Would Save Taxpayers $30b Annually

Toby Chaudhuri — Wed, 04 Apr 2007 00:00:00 -0400

WASHINGTON -- Taxpayers across the country would save $30 billion in prescription drug costs if the federal government were directed to negotiate with pharmaceutical companies over Medicare drug prices, according to a new report released today by the Institute for America's Future.

With 85 percent of the country favoring the use of Medicare's collective bargaining power to lower prescription drug prices, Americans are using the Congressional recess to push for the elimination of a controversial provision in The Medicare Modernization Act of 2003 that prohibits the government from interfering in negotiations between Part D plan participants and drug makers. House Democrats, led by Speaker Nancy Pelosi, were joined by several Republicans in passing legislation to remove the provision in January. Now senate leaders are pushing for a vote following the congressional recess.

Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., joined Campaign for America's Future co-director and report co-author Roger Hickey on a conference call with reporters today to release the new report. Sen. Stabenow said there's no excuse for gouging older Americans who depend on prescription drugs to live with extra costs.

"When so many Americans struggle to pay for the prescription drugs they need, it doesn't make sense to prohibit the federal government from negotiating the lowest possible drug prices on behalf of the 44 million seniors and people with disabilities who rely on Medicare," said Sen. Stabenow. "The Senate must act to provide Medicare recipients the access to affordable prescription drugs they need and deserve."

Hickey described a renewed campaign, led by the Change America Now (CAN) Coalition, to get the Senate to act, noting that the time for action is now.

"Drug prices are too expensive and the savings from negotiating prices are too great to ignore," said Hickey. "Activists across the country are holding Congress' feet to the fire. Congress needs to step up to the plate to lower prescription drug prices. The House has taken the first step. It's time for the Senate to follow suit."

The CAN Coalition was created by the Campaign for America's Future, Americans United For Change and USAction to help push Speaker Pelosi's "100 Hour Agenda" through the U.S. House with overwhelming bipartisan majorities. The coalition is now turning its attention to the U.S. Senate. CAN plans to release reports and run grassroots activities in dozens of states, demanding to know what position senators will take on negotiating drug prices. States where CAN will be asking tough questions include Minn., Ore., N.H., Ohio, Maine and Pa.

Center for Economic and Policy Research co-director and report co-author Dean Baker, also joined Sen. Stabenow and Hickey on today's call. Baker said it's time to undo the self-serving provisions of the past.

"We can provide this benefit at a much lower cost to both older Americans and the government, with less bureaucracy for beneficiaries," said Baker. "As a nation, we must first put the interests of seniors ahead of the interests of the drug companies."

*NOTE: An electronic copy of the report released today by the Campaign for America's Future is available here

Roger Hickey On Presidential Health Care Plans:

Toby Chaudhuri — Tue, 27 Mar 2007 00:00:00 -0400

WASHINGTON – While all seven of the Democratic presidential contenders who spoke at Saturday’s health care forum agreed that universal health care coverage is the solution to our nation’s health care crisis, they are still striving to get the right mix for a winning health care plan, according to Campaign for America’s Future co-director Roger Hickey.

“The candidates agree with the public that the current health care system is ailing,” said Hickey. “It’s undermining everyone’s economic security, and Americans are looking to our nation’s leaders for an alternative. Though there was a lot of agreement on the important fundamentals of achieving health care coverage for every American at the debate, it will take a combination of the ideas advanced by each candidate to get us to a plan that can work.”

Last week, Hickey posed five questions (link) that should be asked of every presidential candidate’s health care plan, using Dr. Jacob Hacker’s “Health Care for America” proposal as the benchmark for creating a simple, easy to understand, comprehensive and affordable health care plan. On Monday, he published a review of the performance of each candidate. Dr. Hacker also reviewed the debate in a piece published yesterday on TomPaine.com.

“John Edwards was bold, detailed and specific. Sen. Barack Obama stressed that no president can create a successful system without the support of a serious citizen movement to demand reform. Rep. Dennis Kucinich diagnosed the problem, and pushed for immediate transformation. And Sen. Hillary Clinton pointed to the greed and power of the insurance industry, establishing a strong starting point for an explanation that most Americans can understand about why health care is in crisis. When specifics of each plan are put together -- in the right way -- it is possible to come up with a winning health care plan, a winner for the candidate, and for the American people,” said Hickey.

The Campaign for America’s Future helped lead the fight against Social Security privatization. Hickey is now developing a similar effort to empower citizen organizations to participate in the public debate about how to get health care for all. He praised the Center for American Progress and SEIU for getting candidates to address the issue in Las Vegas, Nev.

"The public wants to hear bold solutions to what they see as a health care crisis. Sen. Edwards’ very specific health care plan provided a big step forward in that direction," said Hickey. "We’re glad to see the other presidential candidates following his lead and addressing the comprehensive changes necessary to make sure that everyone in America gets good health care coverage and promotes a responsible plan that controls costs.”

**NOTE: To schedule an interview with Roger Hickey or Dr. Hacker, please contact Noreen Nielsen at 202-955-5665 or nnielsen@ourfuture.org For more information, visit http://blog.ourfuture.org/.**

Activists And Experts Hail Health Care For America Plan

Toby Chaudhuri — Thu, 11 Jan 2007 00:00:00 -0500

America's Future and other groups that stopped Social Securityprivatization vow nationwide campaign on health care

Washington, DC (Jan. 11, 2007): Today the Economic Policy Institute released a progressive Health Care for America plan written by Jacob Hacker as part of EPI's new "Agenda for Shared Prosperity Project," which is designed to get Americans talking about "new solutions that challenge the conventional economic thinking." (EPI also published Globalization That Works for Everyone at their launch event today, written by EPI founding President Jeff Faux.) See www.sharedprosperity.org.

Institute for America's Future Co-Director Roger Hickey announced that his organization would launch a nationwide effort to discuss and debate how to get good health care coverage for all Americans while controlling spiraling health care costs. Hickey declared that, "The best way to get a real debate is to put a simple, clear and progressive health care plan on the table. The Hacker plan published by EPI today qualifies on all counts. It will be a benchmark by which all other plans can be judged."

Hickey is working in collaboration with Medicare Rights Center founder, Diane Archer, and a network of citizen action groups to foster public forums and internet discussion groups designed to create a groundswell of public support for action on health care for all. Many of these groups were active in the successful grassroots movement to stop President Bush's plan to privatize Social Security. Others are working to pass innovative health care coverage plans at the state level.

Other leaders of citizen organizations and health care experts made statements today about the important role the Hacker Health Care for America plan will play in the national debate. (See below for quotes.)

# # #

Key elements of Jacob Hacker's Health Care for America Plan released 1-11-07 by EPI
[Summary written and distributed by the Institute for America's Future.]

Health Care for America. Americans want and deserve to be guaranteed affordable health care. Health Care for America builds on the most popular elements of the present structure -- Medicare and employment-based health insurance -- to meet America's health care needs:

It allows people to keep the health care coverage they have and offers Americans the choice to buy into a public plan like Medicare.
It combines personal responsibility with choice and an employer contribution to create a new framework ensuring that everyone is covered, that risk is spread broadly, and that costs are controlled and quality improved.
It guarantees lifetime coverage and health security.
It's easy to understand.
It's efficient to administer.
It costs no more than the nation is currently spending on health care and offers substantial cost-savings to the 50 states.

What is the promise of Health Care for America? For about $120 billion a year in additional federal spending, it promises all legal residents the lifetime guarantee of affordable and better health care, lower costs, more choice, healthier citizens. It also promises the states real savings and relieves them of the responsibility of ensuring health care for their residents. Instead, it pools the resources of all Americans so that no matter where they live or where they visit, they can access the health care they need. Employers will also see real savings. And Health Care for America does not unravel existing sources of health security or force workers to obtain coverage on their own, or require people to settle for limited coverage or health plans that keep them from seeing the doctors they know and trust.

How does Health Care for America work?
It ensures lifetime coverage to most Americans automatically either through the workplace or, if they have no workplace ties, through their doctors' office. Rather than relying on private insurers to provide affordable coverage for the sick and those with costly medical conditions -- which they have been unwilling and unable to do-- it allows the private health care marketplace to continue to provide coverage as it currently does while guaranteeing all Americans an affordable coverage choice through the public sector. It levels the playing field among employers; every firm needs to make at least a modest contribution -- up to six percent of payroll -- to the cost of coverage for each of their workers.

What would change with Health Care for America?
Every legal resident would have health coverage. For most workers with good coverage though, Health Care for America would change little, besides eliminating the very real threat of losing coverage. But some employers would be required to upgrade their plans to make them comparable to Health Care for America. Others might find it cheaper to provide current levels of coverage by enrolling their workers in Health Care for America and providing supplemental benefits. Detailed micro-simulation estimates suggest that roughly half of non-elderly Americans would remain in workplace health insurance, with the other half enrolled in Health Care for America.

Why is Health Care for America Efficient and Cost Effective?
A single national insurance pool covering nearly half the population would create huge administrative efficiencies. Medicare's administrative costs amount to between 2 and 3 percent of total program spending, compared with between 13 and 14 percent, on average, in the private sector. Because Medicare and Health Care for America would bargain jointly for lower prices and join forces to improve quality, they would have enormous combined leverage to hold down costs. To ensure that bargaining for lower prices did not come at the expense of high-quality care, Medicare and Health Care for America would also team up to monitor and improve the quality of care, applying the positive models already developed or under development within Medicare and in the increasingly successful Military Health System. Because Health Care for America creates a constructive public-private dynamic, it ensures that the sector best able to control costs is rewarded with additional patients over time.

Health Care for America Guarantees Coverage and Controls Health Spending. It promises substantial cost savings over time for employers, individuals, states, and the federal government. By bargaining for lower prices and encouraging cost-effective care, Health Care for America-working with Medicare-provides the best realistic hope for finally bringing American health spending under control.

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**Note: Video and audio of the event will be available on January 12, 2007at sharedprosperity.org.**

Praise for "The Great Risk Shift: The Assault on American Jobs, Families, Health Care, and Retirement-And How You Can Fight Back":

"The essential policy book of the year." -E.J. Dionne, Washington Post

One of the "two most important books on American politics to appear this year, maybe in many a year...Hacker's is one of those prescient books that names and anatomizes a potent, ubiquitous trend that has been hidden in plain view...His book deserves the widest possible audience, for having nailed the most powerful and underappreciated economic trend of our era, thereby inviting a discussion of the political opportunities." -Robert Kuttner, American Prospect

"Jacob S. Hacker, a 35-year-old political science professor at Yale, has become something of an intellectual "It boy" in the Democratic Party over the last decade...The patchwork safety net created in the decades after World War II truly is shriveling, and there will be rewards for the party that comes up with a convincing solution. Hacker has done the Democrats a favor by developing a story and a catchphrase - the great risk shift - to describe the problem." -David Leonhardt, New York Times

"The Great Risk Shift is a powerful and timely account of the forces driving the ascendance of economic insecurity in America. But Hacker does more than describe the problem; he offers a thoughtful and ambitious policy agenda and explains how each of us can make our own families more secure. This is an important book for anyone concerned about the continuing vitality of the American dream." - Senator John Edwards

"What Hacker so effectively documents in The Great Risk Shift is that for too many Americans, Washington's pursuit of a so-called Personal Opportunity Society has instead brought about deepening economic insecurity. From job tenure and health coverage to retirement planning, corporations and governments are offloading longstanding institutional responsibilities onto the fragile psychologies and balance sheets of ordinary families and households. Small wonder the public doesn't trust the national economy and its circumstances." - Kevin Phillips, author of American Theocracy

"Hacker's important and illuminating book-with its call for creating an "insurance and opportunity society"-should inform every discussion of progressive political strategy in the coming decade." -David Moberg, In These Times

"By framing what usually are treated as distinct issues...within a unified thesis, Mr. Hacker tells a coherent story about economic insecurity. And, by and large, the thesis is compelling....Provocative and worth reading. And it is chock-full of details that bolster his case that-in regard to risks that in other countries are handled by government and that in this country were once met by employers-Americans now must go it alone." -Roger Lowenstein, New York Times

"In cutting-edge polemics like Jacob Hacker's The Great Risk Shift, the smartest liberal voices are focusing on voter anxiety about health care and income volatility-anxiety that the GOP hasn't even begun to find a way to address." -Ross Douthat & Reihan Salam, Weekly Standard

"As Jacob Hacker argues persuasively in The Great Risk Shift, America's middle class finds itself living with far more risk and income volatility than it did a generation ago." -Christopher Hayes, Nation

"Don't be surprised to see...Hacker ideas batted around during the 2008 presidential race." -James Pethokoukis, U.S. News and World Report

Thoughtful Democrats like Clinton aide Gene Sperling and Yale professor Jacob Hacker have argued that Americans, even amid prosperity, are increasingly insecure in our globalized economy and wary of downside risks if they have to change jobs or learn new skills. -Michael Barone, Washington Times

"Jacob Hacker's research on the uneven state of the American safety net has made the young Yale University political scientist a top idea merchant to Democratic think tanks." - Business Week

"Jacob Hacker, a Yale University political scientist, has emerged as an incisive voice on issues relating to retirement security and income volatility." - AARP Bulletin

"America's largest social class isn't upper-income, middle, or poor. It's our sprawling anxious class. As Jacob Hacker shows in this lucid and riveting account, American families are experiencing more and more uncertainty about their future, and the reigning conservative orthodoxy is exposing them to ever greater risk. Hacker lifts up the floor boards of conservative's much touted "opportunity society" and reveals the extended rot. But he also offers up a new foundation for economic security. This is an important book." - Robert B. Reich, Professor of Public Policy, Berkeley, and former U.S. Secretary of Labor

"Hacker shows that the decline in economic security is the major economic issue of our time, far more important than the occasional recessions and blips in the unemployment rate that preoccupy so many economists. This book powerfully illuminates the real scope of the problem." - Robert J. Shiller, author of Irrational Exuberance